Hideo Kojima is Slowly Disarming Konami

Share This:

Hideo Kojima is Slowly Disarming Konami

Share

Hideo Kojima left Konami after decades of working for the company. The break up was painful and Konami did its best to not make it public until absolutely necessary. It is safe to say that the company did not handle the situation very well.

Soon after Kojima’s departure, he formed his own studio, Kojima Productions. The studio is working on Death Stranding for PlayStation 4 in partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment.

When Hideo Kojima left he didn’t leave alone; many of the leading talent at Konami parted ways and jumped ship with Kojima. Yoji Shinkawa left with producer Ken-Ishiro Imaizumi, and ex-Konami Europe boss Shinji Hirano. However, they are not the only ones. Recently, Shinji Hirano, the former President of Konami Europe also left the building.

Now, a major part of Konami’s video game development division has left and joined Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions. Akio Sakamoto, a major part of FOX Engine’s creation, has left Konami. Chihoko Uchiyama, the senior character designer at Konami has also left the studio to join Kojima.

Konami is bleeding talent and we don’t think it would be a quick recovery for the studio. You can always recruit new talent but the company’s image in the gaming community is severely hurting.

Metal Gear is dying, Castlevania is nowhere to be found, and the company’s focus is currently on diversifying to other non-gaming businesses.